Thursday, March 29, 2012

"Olitsky Revelation in Glass"

12x12 fused glass

Hi Everyone, I bet you thought I fell off the face of the earth and quit painting altogether! Actually, I'm still a little behind and not painting as much as I'd like but I'm getting back in the swing. I had a commission for another sailor painting immediately after the first one sold so I took care of that, and there is an upcoming show for Findlay Area Artists at the prestigious Toledo Museum of Art that coincides with a Jules Olitsky exhibit and also is held during the international Glass Art Society conference. Basically what it means is there will be a lot of visibility for the art in that show. There is one caveat however, and that is that one of the 3 pieces we create for the show must be inspired by Jules Olitsky...Now he's an interesting guy, but not my style at all, so I kind of struggled with this one. But then my glass friend Kelly reminded me that thousands of glass artists would be milling about so I decided to do my piece in glass......It has taken me over a week and 6 "firings" so far. Each firing is about 24 hours from start to finish.....mostly just lots of waiting time....I'm not entirely happy with it, and I think I'll do one more tiny adjustment, but here it is. Olitsky was inspired in his later years by the landscapes around his home very near where I grew up in New Hampshire. I chose a sunset of Lake Winnepesaukee as my inspiration for this piece, where Olitsky created many of his works.

thanks Trish! I agree, it was definately a refreshing break from the brush, I have been dying to try something in glass, but it requires so many steps and so much more patience than i have, but I realized it's kind of cool to have going on while I'm painting....for one thing, laying on the glass powder doesn't take that long, an hour tops, it's the heating and cooling that takes time, and it heats my studio too!!! So while it heats up I can paint while I wait....I kind of like the idea of having several things going at once....I might just keep it up! How's the wedding plans by the way?